Here are analysts' predictions on whether the Bank of England will cut interest rates or not

All eyes are on the Bank of England and whether it will cut interest rates or not when its Monetary Policy Committee meets on Wednesday — the first time since the UK voted to leave the European Union at the end of June.

We won't find out the results of that meeting until midday on Thursday, but whatever the outcome, the MPC's decision will be one of the watched releases in many years.

The MPC is the group within the BOE that is responsible for steering monetary policy in the UK by setting interest rates, and inflation targets.

To find out how the markets are feeling about the BoE's decision, Business Insider rounded up forecasts from banks, economic research houses, and trading firms about whether or not the central bank will cut interest rates, changing Britain's base rate for the first time in almost seven years. Most of those surveyed plumped for either a cut to 0.25% or no move at all, although one bank, Morgan Stanley, predicted a cut to just 0.1%.

Business Insider found that around 40% of the forecasts we looked at suggest that the Bank will leave rates unchanged, although all those who said that no cut will come on Thursday, argued that the BoE will most likely cut on August 4, its next meeting and when its latest Inflation Report is released.

Of those who believe the Bank won't cut, most argue that the MPC's minutes will cite the fact that we have very little economic data from the post-Brexit period, so don't actually know how the vote has actually affected the UK's economy.

Britain's interest rates have been at a historic low of 0.5% since March 2009 and before Britain voted to leave the European Union on June 23, the BoE was priming itself to eventually start raising rates again.

The basic argument behind the BoE cutting rates on Thursday is that it should, in theory at least, stimulate economic growth by encouraging people to borrow and invest, which in turn will help to spur inflation. With several forecasts, including from Credit Suisse and Barclays, suggesting that Britain is plunging towards recession, a rate cut of some sort seems inevitable in the near future.

Check out the forecasts of economists, analysts, and strategists below:

Mike van Dulken, Accendo Markets

YouTube/Dukascopy TV

Expectation: No change

"I may be an outlier here, but how about nada? But with a very big dollop of dovishness. After all, Carney’s most recent post-Brexit appearance saw him say 'The Committee will make an initial assessment on 14 July, and a full assessment complete with a new forecast will follow in the August Inflation Report. In August, we will also discuss further the range of instruments at our disposal.'

"With little/no data since Brexit it might be foolish to move too quickly. It’s not even been 3 weeks! And he’s the most stable person in office we’ve had since Brexit. No point in ruining it. Lessons learnt from [Mario] Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, 'words speak louder than actions.' Promise now, deliver later."

Chris Williamson, Markit

Youtube/4-traders.com

Expectation: Cut

"With the June PMIs having already fallen into territory that would normally be associated with the Bank of England cutting interest rates, it’s unlikely that policymakers will wait for more data before unleashing additional monetary stimulus. More policy action is therefore likely in the coming weeks."

Jeremy Cook, World First

"We are not expecting any policy change from the Monetary Policy Committee this month and expect that they will wait until next month’s Super Thursday policy announcement for a potential cut in interest rates and an increase in quantitative easing. There have simply been too few data points since the vote and while anecdotal news from Bank of England agents may be forecasting a slowing of growth, actual activity data is needed."

Simon Baptist, Economist Intelligence Unit

Vimeo/Hunter Gatherer

Expectation: Cut

"It's a pretty easy call that the MPC will loosen this week. I think this time they will take advantage of the room for a rate cut without going below zero, but the impact of that will be limited as rates are already very low. They'll have to use unconventional tools, including QE, later in the year. The more interesting point for me is fiscal policy. With bond yields so low, the government should have been borrowing more for years. Fiscal policy is the one that has been causing an economic drag, not monetary. The good news for the UK economy won't come from the BOE, it will be if [Theresa] May's chancellor stops the destructive fiscal policies of [George] Osborne."

Samuel Tombs, Pantheon Macroeconomics

Twitter/Samuel Tombs

Expectation: No change

"My expectation is that they wait until August to cut rates to 0.25%, and won't do more QE.

"Sterling's depreciation has set up inflation to greatly overshoot the 2pc target next year, but right now the size of the hit to activity from the referendum is very uncertain. By next month's meeting, the MPC will have July's PMIs to hand, enabling them to make a full assessment of how much easing is required. My impression from Carney's recent speeches is that he doesn't want to rush into anything."

Ana Thaker, Phillip Capital UK

"Whilst markets are pricing in a rate cut, it is unlikely the Bank will act so soon after a new PM has taken over and may instead look to loosen policy through quantitative easing and capital injections. Carney’s decision to loosen bank’s capital requirements signal that the bank is ready to act but with more targeted methods and with a focus on financial market stability and bank lending.

"If a rate cut is coming, August seems more likely when the Bank has a chance to assess the impact Brexit has had on inflation and employment figures as well as coinciding with the release of the Inflation report. However, quantitative easing has the added benefit of being scaled up or down so we may see the Bank introduce this first with a view to adjust as time goes by and Brexit consequences are realised."

Morgan Stanley, team led by Melanie Baker

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Expectation: Cut

"We expect a pre-emptive MPC to act ahead of getting hard data on the impact of the vote to leave the EU on the economy — to shore up confidence. Building on the Bank's actions since the vote to leave in supplying additional liquidity and cutting capital requirements, we expect a unanimous vote to cut rates 25 bps.This is a major shift from a 'data-dependent' bank,and there is a risk that MPC members prefer to wait until they have at least produced their new forecasts in August. But the MPC has acted in a unified manner through the referendum,and Governor Carney, who has recently been in the middle of MPC opinion, gave explicit guidance that he was preparing to lower rates."

Jonathan Loynes, Capital Economics

The Bank of England.Reuters/Luke MacGregor

Expectation: Cut

“We think the Committee will recognise the dangers of disappointing market expectations and cut the Bank rate by 0.25%.”

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, team led by Erjon Satko

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Expectation: Cut

"Given the uncertainty and likely economic downturn, we expect the BOE to ignore GBP driven inflation, taking interest rates to, or close to, zero and subsequently restarting QE. We change our call a little though. We had expected a 50bp rate cut, taking interest rates to zero, on July 14.

"We now look for rates to be cut to 40bp to 0.1%. In a speech on June 30, clearly signalling monetary policy easing was coming soon, Mark Carney expressed concern about taking rates below zero (negative rates certainly seem off the table, as we had expected) and also highlighted potential issues with cutting very close to zero."

Andrew Benito, Goldman Sachs

REUTERS / Brendan Mcdermid

Expectation: No change

"We expect the MPC to leave rates on hold on July 14, and instead expect a rate cut to be deferred just three weeks to the August 4 Super Thursday announcements. There, the BOE will be able to give greater detail motivating and justifying its rate cut and other policy easing."

Citi

Thomson Reuters

Expectation: Cut

"The Citi base is a 25bp cut from the BOE. The market assigns around 75% probability of this, but is fully price for at least 25bp by August.

"QE is not currently our base case and has drawbacks. Its potency is questionable given yields are already so low. It would also worsen pension deficits, already ballooning from the fall in yields."

BNP Paribas

REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Expectation: Cut

"We expect the Bank of England to launch a new easing cycle this week, delivering a 25bp rate at its Thursday meeting, with the door left open for more to come. Sterling has stabilized near $1.30 this week, but we see further near-term risks as BoE rate cuts and potentially reduced FDI flows weigh on currency."

Barclays

Thomson Reuters

Expectation: No change

"We expect the Bank Rate and asset purchase facility to remain unchanged at the July meeting, at 0.5% and £375 billion respectively. As for the split of the vote, we believe that some dovish members of the Committee, such as Gertjan Vlieghe and/or Andy Haldane could vote for a cut; consequently, we expect the split of the vote to switch from 9-0 to 7-2."